His service and his counsel. Q.Kath. To betray me. [Aside. My lords, I thank you both for your good wills, In such a point of weight, so near mine honour, For her sake that I have been, (for I feel Wol.Madam,you wrong the king's love with these fears; Your hopes and friends are infinite. Q.Kath. In England, But little for my profit: Can you think, lords, Or be a known friend, 'gainst his highness' pleasure, Cam. I would, your grace Would leave your griefs, and take my counsel. Cam. Put your main cause into the king's protection; He's loving, and most gracious; 'twill be much Both for your honour better, and your cause; For, if the trial of the law o'ertake you, You'll part away disgrac'd. Wol. He tells you rightly. Q.Kath. Ye tell me what ye wish for both, my ruin : Is this your christian counsel ? out upon ye! Heaven is above all yet; there sits a Judge, That no king can corrupt. Cam. Your rage mistakes us. [3] Do you think that any Englishman dare advise me; or, if any man should venture to advise with honesty, that he could live? JOHNS. [4] To weigh out is the same as to outweigh. In Macbeth, Shakspeare has overcome for come over. STEEV. Q. Kath. The more shame for ye, holy men I thought you, Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues ; But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye : Mend them for shame, my lords. Is this your comført? The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady? A woman lost among ye, laugh'd at, scorn'd ? I will not wish ye half my miseries, I have more charity: But say, I warn'd ye; Take heed, for heaven's sake, take heed, lest at on ce The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye. Wol. Madam, this is a mere distraction; You turn the good we offer into envy. Q.Kath. Ye turn me into nothing: Woe upon ye, And all such false professors! Would ye have me (If you have any justice, any pity; If ye be any thing but churchmen's habits,) To me, above this wretchedness? all your studies Cam. Your fears are worse.. Q.Kath. Have I liv'd thus long-(let me speak myself, Since virtue finds no friends)- a wife, a true one? A woman (I dare say, without vain-glory,) Never yet branded with suspicion ? Have I with all my full affections Still met the king? lov'd him next heaven? obey'd him? Almost forgot my prayers to content him? Wol. Madam, you wander from the good we aim at. Q.Kath. My lord, I dare not make myself so guilty, To give up willingly that noble title [5] If I mistake you, it is by your fault, not mine; for I thought you good. The distress of Katharine might have kept her from the quibble to which she is irresistibly tempted by the word cardinal. JOHNS. [6] That is, served him with superstitious attention; done more than was required. JOHNS. Your master wed me to: nothing but death Wol. 'Pray, hear me. QKath. 'Would, I had never trod this English earth, Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it! Ye have angel's faces, but heaven knows your hearts. What will become of me now, wretched lady? I am the most unhappy woman living.- Wol. If your grace Could but be brought to know, our ends are honest, We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow them. How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly Grow from the king's acquaintance, by this carriage. So much they love it; but, to stubborn spirits, I know, you have a gentle. noble temper, A soul as even as a calm: Pray, think us Those we profess, peace-makers, friends, and servants. Cam. Madam, you'll find it so. You wrong your virtues With these weak women's fears. A noble spirit, As yours was put into you, ever casts Such doubts, as false coin, from it. The king loves you; Beware, you lose it not: For us, if you please To trust us in your business, we are ready To use our utmost studies in your service. Q.Kath. Do what ye will, my lords: And, pray, forgive me, If I have us'd myself unmannerly ;7 You know, I am a woman, lacking wit To make a seemly answer to such persons. Pray, do my service to his majesty : He has my heart yet; and shall have my prayers, [7] That is, if I have behaved myself unmannerly. M. MASON. While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers, Bestow your counsels on me: she now begs, That little thought, when she set footing here, She should have bought her dignities so dear. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Ante-chamber to the King's Apartment. Enter the Duke of NORFOLK, the Duke of SUFFOLK, the Earl of SURREY, and the Lord Chamberlain. Nor. If you will now unite in your complaints And force them with a constancy, the cardinal Cannot stand under them: if you omit The offer of this time, I cannot promise, But that you shall sustain more new disgraces, Sur. I am joyful To meet the least occasion, that may give me Suf. Which of the peers Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least Cham. My lords, you speak your pleasures: Nor. O, fear him not; His spell in that is out: the king hath found Sur. Sir, I should be glad to hear such news as this Once every hour. Nor. Believe it, this is true. [8] Force is enforce, urge. JOHNS. [9] Which of the peers has not gone by him contemned or neglected? JOHNS. [1] When did he, however careful to carry his own dignity to the utmost height, regard any dignity of another? JOHNS. In the divorce, his contrary proceedings As I would wish mine enemy. Sur. How came His practices to light? Suf. Most strangely. Sur. O, how, how? Suf. The cardinal's letter to the pope miscarried, A creature of the queen's, lady Anne Bullen. Suf. Believe it. Sur. Will this work? Cham. The king in this perceives him, how he coasts, And hedges, his own way.3 But in this point All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic Sur. 'Would he had! Suf. May you be happy in your wish, my lord! For, I profess, you have it. Sur. Now all my joy Trace the conjunction !4 Nor. All men's. Suf. There's order given for her coronation : In mind and feature: 1 persuade me, from her Sur. But, will the king Digest this letter of the cardinal's? 'The lord forbid ! Nor. Marry, Amen! Suf. No, no; There be more wasps that buz about his nose, [2] Private practices opposite to his public proceedure. JOHNS. [3] To hedge, is to creep along by the hedge: not to take the direct and open path, but to steal covertly through cicumvolutions. JOHNS. [4] To trace, is to follow. JOHNS. |